Ring of Fate: Sidequests and Skits
by Alley Cat Sunflower
Summary: Consists of short scenes I can't fit into "Tales of Zestiria: Ring of Fate". Rating, genre, spoiler level, and possibly point of view will vary from chapter to chapter. I may accept suggestions in reviews. Chapter One: In which Rose needs a bath, so Lailah transforms a pond into a hot spring… and you've played enough Tales to see where this is going. I do not own Zestiria!


_Takes place between Chapters 20 and 21; there are a couple references to some events in the plot, but no overt spoilers. The genre's humor, so enjoy!  
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Rose _really_ needed a bath.

Sure, she'd changed clothes a few times over the past week, but that only did so much to cover up the fact that she hadn't cleaned herself properly in a long time—not counting that one near-death experience in the lake, of course. Nobody else had taken a bath lately either, but seraphim didn't _need_ baths, and Sorey and Alisha hadn't had fevers, so they hadn't been sweating as profusely. In other words, Rose was the _sovereign_ of stink.

"Okay," she announced, swallowing her last bite of breakfast, and her friends glanced attentively over at her. "If I don't have myself a bath soon, I'm either gonna die, or my stench is gonna kill you. Or both," she added, as an afterthought, crossing her arms. "You got a bathtub crammed into your outhouse, Sorey?"

Unsurprisingly, the Shepherd shook his head and opened his mouth to say something; but Dezel spoke first. "Don't worry," he told her, a dry smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he readjusted his hat. "I'm used to it, at least."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" protested Rose, but couldn't suppress a grin. If her smell wasn't a turn-off for him, so much the better; he was certainly more tolerant than she would be in his position. Except that he had spoken only for himself: she glanced over at Alisha just as the princess shook her head in exasperation.

Edna smirked and Lailah giggled; but before either of them could say anything, Mikleo cleared his throat. "Sorey's the only human in Elysia most of the time," he pointed out. "The ponds make great bathtubs, and _most_ seraphim don't take an interest in peeping." He shot a glare in Zaveid's direction, but the shirtless seraph only raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

Sorey smiled, pushing Mikleo's shoulder playfully. "Come on, you know I didn't usually need to go that far," he laughed, and the water seraph rolled his eyes. "I must've had three showers a day when you were first learning to use your seraphic artes."

As Mikleo made to retort, Rose shook her head. "Even if he offered, I'd have to pass," she told them firmly. "Not to like, undermine your abilities or anything," she added apologetically, addressing Mikleo, "but… you know. You're male, and I'm not." Dezel gave the barest hint of a nasal sigh, and she glanced at him out the corner of her eye; but his expression was unreadable.

"I can help," volunteered Lailah, getting to her feet. "I'll heat the water for you. It may not be raining in Zenrus's domain, but it's still cold," she added, glancing up at the skylight. "We wouldn't want you to catch another chill. Inasmuch as mana toxicosis can be considered a _chill_ , of course," she added, lifting a hand thoughtfully to her chin, "but for lack of a bette—"

Edna reached over to poke Rose with her umbrella; she started. "Get going," she suggested; Rose scooted back towards the door to dodge a second jab. "She's not gonna stop talking till you move. And Alisha," she added, addressing the princess; the other Squire pointed to herself, blinking in surprise. "You're going, too. Any decent princess must keep up her proper hygiene, or whatever."

Using the wall as support, Rose slid to her feet, and she and Alisha exchanged a guarded glance. They were all girls here, she thought; this was no time for modesty. Bathing was a necessity for them both, and they ought to conserve as much time as possible. And, as long as a certain somebody didn't try anything funny, they should be fine.

Speaking of which—"It's a beautiful day," remarked Zaveid, stretching and getting to his feet; Rose thought fleetingly of the gray sky stretching endlessly above them, and smiled despite herself. "Think I'll go for a walk."

"The hell you will," snapped Dezel, following suit immediately; Rose shook her head and made her way out the door. With any luck, the two wind seraphim would keep one another occupied; with any luck, a battle between perversion and possessiveness would buy her enough time to get in and out of her bath without any complications.

As they came to a halt next to a relatively secluded pool, Alisha pursed her lips. "No," she decided, her bright eyes lingering on Rose's face. "I can't. I'm sorry, but…" She trailed off somewhat sadly, and Rose's breath caught as she remembered her scars. "Cold baths are just as good for you," she explained awkwardly, shifting uncomfortably in place and glancing around as though looking for exits. "I'll find a pond of my own, and you can take Lailah's powers for yourself."

And, without another word, Alisha turned on her heel and walked away. Rose let out a long sigh, shaking her head; but before she could even formulate her thoughts, a soft hand on her shoulder startled her. She jumped, reaching for her thankfully absent knives, and whirled around to find Lailah.

"One day," murmured Lailah, gazing after Alisha, but braved a kindly smile at Rose a moment later. "Are you ready?" she added, rolling up her sleeves, and held out her hands to the water, her palms glowing a gentle red. "Zaveid and Dezel are both accounted for," she assured her, when Rose hesitated.

One more pause, and Rose finally shrugged, undressing as quickly as possible. Even if all the seraphim of Elysia had practically barricaded themselves in their homes, it felt so exposed to strip naked in the middle of a village. Fortunately, Lailah had closed her eyes, or Rose might have thought twice.

But as soon as she knelt in the warm water, all her worries seemed to melt away, and she let out a long sigh of contentment. It had been a long time since she'd been able to experience simple pleasures like this. This pond was now her own personal hot spring, she thought happily; she'd certainly be satisfied just to soak here forever, but of course she didn't want to exhaust Lailah, either.

So Rose semi-reluctantly started scrubbing away a week's worth of grime and hardship instead; admittedly, it took longer than usual, but—well, she hadn't been offered any soap. That, and it was far too easy to lose herself in the rhythmic ritual of bathing given that she hadn't done it in so long. In fact, she almost forgot to think… but this was definitely a much more pleasant experience than that stupid fever.

"Look, I'm _not_ peeping on your beloved vessel!" snapped Zaveid's voice at a distance, breaking into Rose's reverie; she jumped, and the heat faltered as Lailah was distracted, though she still didn't open her eyes.

"You expect me to believe that?!" retorted Dezel, and Rose turned her head, trying to gauge how close they were. "If this isn't you, then what is it?" he added challengingly, as the breeze picked up once more; Rose shivered in the chill, cupping her hands and pouring warm water over herself.

"I don't know, maybe _Maotelus_?" shot back Zaveid. "And if you don't believe me, you can just read the wind yourself," he added, a subtle undercurrent of mischievous amusement beneath his apparent anger. "Then you'll understand that I've got nothing to do with this!"

Even before he finished speaking, the wind swept violently over the surface of the water, so suddenly that Rose didn't even have time to submerge herself; she had time only to hug her arms to her chest, shivering… and to be grateful that at least everything below her waist was submerged. Thankfully, the gale stopped almost as soon as it started, as if embarrassed; narrowing her eyes, Rose wasn't sure whether to be angrier at Zaveid for tricking him, or at Dezel for falling for something so obvious.

She settled for both. Clambering out of the pond, Rose yanked her clothing back over her head without even pausing to dry off, and marched over to Sorey's house, leaving the nonplussed Lailah behind ("I'll go find Alisha, then, shall I?"). Dezel was sitting down with his head buried in his knees as Zaveid stood next to him, bent double with laughter—and Edna stood casually off to the side.

"Too easy," guffawed Zaveid, plucking Dezel's hat off his head and placing it on his own; to Rose's astonishment, he didn't even try to snatch it back, merely tightening his grip on his legs as he hugged them. His ears were as red as she'd ever seen them, and she suppressed a smile with some difficulty, her exasperation evaporating. If this wasn't regret, she didn't know what was.

"Right?" smirked Edna, shouldering her parasol; taking a deep breath, Rose supposed she also ought to be grateful that it had been Dezel and not Zaveid, since at least she'd known him for longer. Or, more accurately, he'd known _her_ … in all kinds of situations… including the intimate ones. "You gonna let him get away with that, Rose?" added Edna, nodding towards him.

Rose rolled her shoulders, making a noble effort to relax her stiffened muscles. "He's been watching me all my life," she pointed out carefully, crossing her arms. "And let's not forget that he's literally controlled my body before. I think I can forgive a little accidental wind-reading now and again." She glanced down at Dezel just as he looked up (and quickly away). "That said, let's not make this a habit, _hmm_?"

Dezel nodded mutely, and she smiled at him dangerously, pushing past them all to reach Sorey's door; Zaveid and Edna, thankfully, were both too stunned by her nonchalance to do more than stare at her—but Dezel got to his feet in her peripheral vision, and she turned around.

"R-Rose," he stammered, swallowing; she'd never seen him this nervous in her life, not even before any of their numerous battles together. "I didn't mean to—" She held up her hand, and he stopped talking quite as suddenly as if she'd clapped it over his mouth, turning a slightly deeper shade of crimson and taking a staggering step back as if expecting her to blast him to kingdom come.

"It wasn't your fault," Rose told him firmly. "Okay? Just don't do it again. And that goes for you too," she added, punching Zaveid none too lightly on the shoulder on her way back into the house. "Oh, and Edna, help a girl out a little next time, would you?" she added sharply; not waiting for her to answer, Rose turned on her heel and walked briskly inside.

Her work here may have been done—but she didn't see Zaveid offer Dezel his fist to bump behind her… or Dezel's halfhearted reciprocation.

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 _I will not be responding to reviews in the chapters, since I have no way of knowing whether there will be a next chapter at any given time. Also, it's possible that this continues after the main story ends, since I can always think of something behind the scenes._

 _However, as mentioned in the summary, I **may** accept requests or suggestions for what to include as a chapter. This isn't a guarantee, but it's a possibility. In other words, if you have an idea you'd like to see written for this AU, I will take it into consideration and may message you for further details if I'm interested and if you have an account._

 _Got it? Good! Hope to see y'all Ring of Fate followers around._


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